Will Darcy Oake bring his doves back to the Britain’s Got Talent stage? (Picture: ITV)

He was one of the standout acts of the 2014 Britain’s Got Talent auditions, thanks to his ability to seemingly produce doves – and women – out of thin air.

However magician Darcy Oake, who unsurprisingly is one of the 40 acts to make it through to this year’s live semi-finals, has admitted that he is keeping an open mind about his chances of being crowned series champion.

Speaking to Metro ahead of Monday night’s first live show, when he will make his bid for a place in the grand final, the Canadian 26-year-old revealed: ‘I’m trying not to think of it as a competition, I’m thinking more about trying to do a performance I’m artistically satisfied with.’

And he added that the pressure was on to deliver once again, especially after Simon Cowell declared him to be ‘without question the best magician we’ve ever had on this show’.

‘The fact he said that is so amazing – it’s playing with my head,’ Darcy confessed.

‘There’s definitely more pressure now because of that, but it’s something you have to utilise in your favour. I have to deliver now, but also have to stay focused and do what I do.’

Meanwhile Darcy – who has promised that viewers can expect something ‘bigger and more illusion based’ for his semi-final performance – has also addressed the inevitably thorny issue of foreign acts taking part in the show, something which reared its head in 2013 when Hungarian shadow dancers Attraction took the title.

He explained: ‘Magic is what I do for a job but I’m not artistically where I want to be right now. Britain’s Got Talent is designed exactly for that reason, it’s the biggest talent show in the world and I came here all the way from Canada to do it.

‘So I do understand people’s views but I also feel the people who would be saying that don’t realise how big the show is – it’s massive.